Big Ten Logos Ranked

On Friday, a minor kerfuffle bubbled up on Big Ten Twitter as the account @SincePittWinPSU released a ranking of Big Ten logos that, to be kind, was fantastically incorrect. Now, since this is the internet, I couldn’t just let this wrong rankings go and have to release my own.

If you cannot see the embedded tweet, here are the wrong rankings:

1) Penn State
2) Michigan State
3) Ohio State
4) Iowa
5) Maryland
6) Wisconsin
7) Minnesota
8) Northwestern
9) Purdue
10) Michigan
11) Illinois
12) Nebraska
13) Indiana
14) Rutgers

Woof, so bad.

It brings me no joy to report this, but I have established myself as an unbiased Reporter of Facts throughout many years of posting nonsense on Al Gore’s internet and so...here it goes. The best logo in the Big Ten is actually ::swallows throw up:: Iowa’s.

Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images

First of all, it’s called a tigerhawk. Are their two other animals that you could smash together to be any cooler? The answer is no. Secondly, in a conference where 11 of the 14 teams just use a big ol’ letter for their logo, it just stands out even more. I hate how much I like Iowa’s logo, but it is definitely the coolest and best logo in the conference.

The second best logo in the conference is Indiana’s.

It looks even better when it’s also a horny candelabra from a Disney movie, but let’s talk about the official logo. In a conference full of Big Letter Logos, the IU logo stands out. It has two letters, which already makes it better, and it just looks, I don’t know, more important than the other Big Letter Logos.

I have always been an admirer of the Maryland flag and think that it is dope how much it is incorporated into the Terps’ whole motif and that makes Maryland’s logo the third best for me. Adding the little strip of the flag below the “M” is a nice touch.

Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images

4) Penn State
5) Northwestern
6) Purdue

The Nittany Lion is cool and the Gothic Northwestern “N” is as well. Purdue’s “P” is the start of a grouping of logos that are...fine. They’re just fine but not exemplary.

Wisconsin’s Motion W is squarely in this category. Listen, I love Wisconsin, both the state and the university, with all of my heart but the Motion W is just...fine.

Photo by Dan Sanger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Bucky Badger is the best mascot in the Big Ten and the band is tops as well, but the logo? It’s average, No. 7 in the conference to be exact, and we shouldn’t be afraid to say it.

8) Minnesota
9) Michigan

These are Ms. I like maroon and gold better than maize and blue. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Spartan helmet logo of Michigan State kinda sucks. It’s generic and I would love to see them make a change to it.

Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images

11) Illinois
12) Rutgers
13) Nebraska

These are all Big Block Logos of varying degrees of lameness. You could put these three schools in any order here and I don’t think you’d find many people willing to write a whole post on the internet about how you were wrong.

And that brings us to the worst logo in the Big Ten: Ohio State’s. It combines a Big Block Letter but lacks any brand awareness because then the entire damn school name is spelled out for you! I know the people of Ohio aren’t are nation’s best and brightest but this is a slap in the face to even them.

Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

This guy, and the Ohio State logo, suck major ass.